Fast Company: In the 55 years since Walt Disney World first opened its gates, the theme park has undergone plenty of changes—and in many ways, it’s stayed the same. Some attractions from the park’s opening day in 1971 and the decade that followed have cemented themselves as indisputable classics, such as the Jungle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion (both iconic enough to have warranted their own film adaptations).
4 comments:
I am curious what changed to allow them to reduce the height requirement from 40 to 38 inches. The article makes it sound like not much of the ride itself changed, just that parts have been redecorated. I have mixed feelings about renovations on so many of the classic Disney World rides. Those were the rides I grew up with and I don't think they need to be changed. But, you gotta give people a reason to come back and see the "new" ride. Even if it is just about the exact same. I haven't been on splash mountain since they've changed it. I am hopeful for the Muppet renovation of rock'n'roller coaster, and I hope they don't change the track of the actual ride. I'm also sad that they closed the Muppet Show, that was always a fun one to watch. But at least we aren't fully losing the muppets.
In general, I’m really pleased with the fact that Disney seems to be going back to old attractions and working on opening new ones. Over the past few years, it really seemed like Disney took their foot off the gas in the aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic, at least with development at Walt Disney World. Given the fairly recent announcements of Villains Land, Cars Land, Monsters Inc and Tropical Americas, it seems like Disney is kicking development into high gear once again. It will be interesting to see if Disney continues to announce large expansions at the same rate, or if they decide to wind down development again. While I think Disney in the short term has learned from their pandemic errors as attendance continues to wane, I hope the new CEO doesn’t think he can just coast off of the current development cycle until the late 2030s, because that would create another multi-year void with little to no new development.
It’s quite interesting when the mouse goes and starts changing around rides, especially those which have been around for so long, it can easily be considered an “original attraction” at this point. They did it very recently with Splash Mountain, turning it into Tiana's Bayou Adventure, which did piss a lot of people off. Disney adults, and major Disney fans, really want everything to remain the same so it reminds them of their childhood. They always say when things change they’re no longer supporting Disney, but will always go back to the mouse and forget about it. It’s quite an interesting loop, and very entertaining to watch. I haven’t seen too much public response to this yet, and most people just think they only redid the trains so they can fit them with newer restraints to increase the audience, even if its by 2 inches. It’s going to be very interesting to me to see the response to this seemingly major change.
I like seeing how Disney updates older rides without completely getting rid of what made people like them in the first place. Big Thunder is one of those rides that feels so classic that changing it too much would probably upset a lot of people, so it’s nice that they seem to be keeping the core story and feel of it the same. Adding something like the Rainbow Caverns sounds like a good way to make it feel refreshed without losing its identity. I also think the lowered height requirement is a really good change because it makes the ride more accessible for younger kids and families. It is interesting to see how Disney handles these kinds of updates, especially with rides that people are attached to. At the same time, I get why some people are skeptical whenever Disney “reimagines” something, because sometimes it can feel like nostalgia is being changed. Overall though, this feels more like a thoughtful update than a total replacement.
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